In the art of front end loaders such as a skid-steered loader or tractor or other vehicle with a pair of pivotable arms, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,278 and No. 6,729,830, a bucket is commonly supported for vertical and tilting movement in front of the vehicle for transporting various articles or other materials from one location to another location, and frequently, the material is wet and/or sticky and is difficult to unload or eject from the bucket. For example, the material may be wet manure or wet sand or muddy soil. To solve the problem of unloading or ejecting such material, there have been various forms of unloading or ejecting devices either proposed or used, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,021, No. 3,426,928, No. 3,452,462, No. 3,837,516, No. 5,603,382 and No. 5,702,227.
In order to discharge or eject all types of materials from the bucket, it has been found desirable for the ejector plate to remain generally perpendicular to the bottom wall of the bucket while unloading or ejecting regardless of the position or angle of the bottom wall of the bucket. It is also been found desirable for the entire ejecting mechanism to be carried by the bucket and to be compact in a collapsed position of the ejector plate in order to optimize the capacity of the bucket and to minimize the overall depth and weight of the bucket and ejector assembly. This also permits the assembly to be conveniently used and attached to various vehicles including the front loader of a skid loader or lawn tractor. After reviewing the disclosures of the above-mentioned patents, it is apparent that none of the buckets and load ejecting systems provide all of the above desired features.